Egyptian leader orders election amendment

Further reforms demanded
The need for parliamentary approval, however, likely would deny participation by the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest Islamic group and probably the most powerful rival to Mubarak if an open vote were held. In a statement Saturday, the group -- whose supporters make up the largest opposition bloc in parliament -- demanded further reforms, including greater freedom to form political parties, and the end to Egypt's nearly 25-year-old emergency laws.

The rules would also exclude three well-known political activists who have started a campaign to allow their run for presidency: feminist writer Nawal el-Saadawi, sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, and former opposition member of parliament Mohammed Farid Hassanein.

Mohammed Kamal, a leading member of the ruling party's policy-making committee, said parliament would propose an amendment within two weeks, and a national referendum to approve it would be held within nine weeks.

George Ishaq, spokesman for the Kifaya, or "Enough," movement that has led a series of anti-Mubarak protests since December, said the move was not complete. "Freedom and democracy is a normal request for people," he said. "We need more than this."

Political analyst Mohamed el-Sayed Said criticized Egypt's constitution as "obsolete, replete with gaps and contradictions" and said other articles in the document should also be changed.

Mixed feelings
The announcement came amid a sharp dispute with the United States over reform -- particularly over the arrest of Nour, head of the opposition Al-Ghad party.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice criticized Nour's detention and put off a Mideast visit planned for next week. A senior U.S. official cited Rice's displeasure with the arrest and other Egyptian actions and said Rice wanted to see what steps were taken before going to Cairo.

Egypt, the second largest recipient of U.S. aid, was the first Arab nation to sign a peace treaty with Israel, in 1979, and often mediates in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

As the Bush administration presses allies for political change, even reformers in the region are touchy about U.S. interference.

"If this happened by the pressure from the United States, we don't want it," el-Said, the Tagammu leader, said. "In my view, it came from the mobilization of public opinion."

Hisham Kassem, a top official in Nour's al-Ghad Party, said he had mixed feelings about the initiative, which he called mostly cosmetic.

"I reject this as a member of a party whose leader has been arrested," he said. "Ayman Nour is the only credible candidate who could have faced Mubarak."

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